Yankees are trying to steal Blue Jays' Trey Yesavage blueprint in free agency

Trey Yesavage was one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 MLB season. The Blue Jays' 2024 first-round draft pick will go down in team history after his performance throughout the year. Not only did he climb five levels of professional baseball in the span of five months, he also carved up the competition in the postseason.

One of those opponents that felt his wrath was the New York Yankees. Recently, the Yankees owner, Hal Steinbrenner spoke about his team possibly becoming more like the Blue Jays in 2026. One way they may attempt to do that? Go and get a guy who is being compared to Yesavage.

Yankees are trying to steal Blue Jays' Trey Yesavage blueprint in free agency

The player drawing those comparisons is none other than free agent Japanese pitching sensation Tatsuya Imai, who will be playing in MLB for the first time in his career in 2026. The 27-year-old right hander has recently been compared to Yesavage by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel for what he brings to the table.

McDaniel wrote, "Yesavage throws a four-seam fastball, an arm-side-moving slider and a splitter, and though his release (among the highest in the league) is different than Imai's (lower than average, because of his lower arm slot and below-average height) and Yesavage's splitter is better (among the best in the league), they're otherwise attacking hitters in a similar way."

The Yankees saw first hand how well Yesavage can attack hitters when he no-hit them through 5.1 innings in Game 2 of the ALDS. The 22-year-old struck out 11 Yankees hitters on 78 pitches, with 48 of those being strikes. That game alone seems to have sparked something in the Yankees brass as they look for ways to improve on what was, by all accounts, a successful regular season. They finished tied with the Blue Jays with a 94-68 record, but lost the AL East division title on the tiebreaker.

The Yankees are looking to add Imai to their group that already includes Max Fried, Will Warren and Cam Schlittler, while at some point Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole will return from injury and be slotted into the rotation as well. The Blue Jays have also shown interest in Imai according to reports and it's not hard to see why they would also want the 5-foot-11 hurler.

McDaniel writes, "hough he has above-average control now, that hasn't always been the case. His walk rate was 5.1 BB/9 in 2022, then 4.1 in 2023, 3.6 in 2024 and 2.5 in 2025. That makes him sound like a soft tosser who gets by on his newfound feel, but his four-seam fastball sits at 93-97 mph and hits 99. Given Imai's ability to improve his command and make an unusual approach work in addition to still being in his 20s for a few more years, teams see that he has the traits necessary to make continued adjustments when entering a league with a new baseball and new opponents."

Imai could also have an interest in the Blue Jays as they are one of the teams that cross off two of the things he's looking for in his journey into the big leagues; one, he wants to be with a team that could take down the Dodgers; and two, he wants to be on a team with no other Japanese stars as he wants to try and navigate this journey without the assistance of an established Japanese player presence.